Extroverts, Please Leave Me Alone

“Wait, are you new? I’ve never seen you before.” 

“I didn’t know you could talk!” 

“What do you mean you’ve never been to a party?” 

Apologies, I didn’t mean to inconvenience you by not appearing on your popularity radar but yes, I did learn basic phonics and have actually only been in your class for the last five years so I don’t expect you to have any idea who I am, me being part of the social outgroup and all. 

If you’re on the shyer side of the social spectrum, you might recognize some of those classic one-liners used when extroverted people don’t know what to say to someone who isn’t as enthusiastic as themselves.  Maybe you picture yourself coming up with a clever comeback on the spot but in reality, you’d probably stand there awkwardly waiting for someone to change the subject. 

Between group projects, class participation points, seasonal school events and weekend parties, surviving high school as an introvert comes with facets of dilemmas. Simply weaving through the halls packed with lively students and trying to enter a conversation can be a struggle for someone whose favorite pastime is listening to music alone in their room. 

Sometimes, it even seems like the education system as a whole is working against those of us who weren’t born with the natural ability of being completely comfortable with excessive human interaction. From the looming importance of “getting involved” in busy extracurriculars for college, to oral presentations worth half of our grades, it can feel like the world was made for extroverts.  

Well, I’m here to say that there is a place for your more reserved personality too. Just because you’d rather go home to your cat and books doesn’t mean you should feel less important or “cool” than your peers heading to a mildly overstimulating football game after school. 

So yes, I would rather stay home on weekends and watch Netflix than stay out late, and maybe I do wear headphones while walking through the halls just to avoid social interaction, but I’m still a person with real emotions, which I know sounds like rocket science to extroverts who need visual demonstrations of our emotional responses. 

Regardless, it’s important to remind our spirited school community that introverts can be equally as amicable as our assertive and sometimes gregarious counterparts, once given the chance to express themselves on their own terms.